On Tuesday, Las Vegas Aces middle A’ja Wilson cashed in on the WNBA’s latest surge in reputation.
ESPN’s Shams Charania and Alexa Philippou reported Wilson is signing a six-year contract extension with Nike. The report did not reveal numbers, however the shoe deal is anticipated to be one of the vital profitable for a girls’s basketball participant.
In April, The Athletic reported Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark signed an eight-year cope with Nike value greater than $20M plus potential bonuses. Wilson’s contract ought to be in the same ballpark.
The replace comes after Wilson and Nike announced the launch of her signature shoe, the “A’One,” in Might. It will likely be accessible in spring, shortly earlier than the 2025 WNBA season.
Extending Wilson and giving her a shoe looks like a means for Nike to capitalize on the latest girls’s basketball growth.
“From the NCAA girls’s championship outdrawing the boys’s to the WNBA’s $2.2 billion media-rights deal, the variety of individuals following girls’s basketball has by no means been greater,” wrote Entrance Workplace Sports activities’ Margaret Fleming this previous Friday.
In September, the WNBA introduced it set a regular-season viewership document, attracting greater than 54 million distinctive viewers throughout ABC, CBS, ESPN, ESPN 2, ION and NBA TV. Proficient gamers like Wilson in all probability contributed to its development.
In 2024, Wilson, 28, turned the second unanimous MVP in league historical past after averaging a career-high 26.9 factors per recreation in 38 regular-season contests. She’s additionally the fourth participant to win the award thrice.
Plus, Nike could also be fearful in regards to the NBA’s declining TV rankings. Front Office Sports’ Daniel Roberts and Colin Salao not too long ago reported the league’s viewership on ESPN was down 28 % by Nov. 21.
In March, Reuters’ Katherine Masters and Ananya Mariam Rajesh famous Nike was “more and more leaning on its basketball footwear” to enhance gross sales. The waning curiosity within the NBA may actually hinder this technique.
Maybe Nike will proceed to put money into the WNBA to spice up enterprise. If Wilson’s footwear promote, that would pave the best way for different stars.
